


I Walk The Line

by sweettcreatture



Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Anxiety, Based in 1991, Bisexual Richie Tozier, Boarding School, Depression, Flashbacks, Flashbacks will occur, Gay Eddie Kaspbrak, I will go into detail on sensitive themes, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, M/M, Murder, PENNYWISE ?? WE DONT KNOW HIM, Plot Twists, Rape, Reddie, Reddie Imagine, References to Depression, Richie x Eddie, Self-Harm, Sensitive themes, Sexual Assault, Slow Burn, Teenagers, The Losers Club, Underage - Freeform, be warned, outcasts, sensitive topics
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-05
Updated: 2017-11-04
Packaged: 2019-01-29 16:08:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12634527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweettcreatture/pseuds/sweettcreatture
Summary: Eddie Kaspbrak is finally enrolled into the Boarding School that he had been fighting for years just to get in. However, not all is what it seems between these walls, full of shadows and unsolved mysteries that dangle on loose threads. Derry Academy has a dark secret that is yet to be revealed and the more Eddie finds out about the unknown, more grains of sand fall to the depths of the hourglass.





	I Walk The Line

**Author's Note:**

> Please, don't read this book if you haven't properly checked the tags. If you're sensitive to any of those things, do not read on. This book isn't as important as your well being!

“And this is your room, Edward.”

“It’s uh, Eddie. My friends call me Eddie.”

Mr. Maguire lifted a single key that was attached to a metallic hoop, it hanging between the Principal's wrinkled fingertips and scraping at the thin air. Other students passed, giving almost shocked looks as the two stood in front of his now new dorm room.

“Well, Eddie, I’m sure you’ll be a good student here at Derry Academy however, I’m going to go over the dorm rules with you. Does that sound good Eddie?” Mr. Maguire spoke with his monotone voice, his eyelids slitting his eyes.

Eddie could only nod, feeling very intimidated by how his new Principle said his name in such a broad manner.

“One, in your dorm you shall not play any loud music after 8pm. Two, you shall not have lights on past 11pm. If you are going to study, you should use your desk lamp and not your main room lamp. Three, you only leave your room for the bathroom after 9pm and you shall not stay in other dorms overnight; weekends are an exception.” Mr. Maguire paused before tilting an eyebrow down at Eddie, “Do you understand, Eddie?”

“Yes Sir, I understand completely.” He tried to keep his voice stable, however his tone only quivered all over the place.

A smirk toyed at Mr. Maguire’s lips as he then nodded at Eddie’s hands, Eddie caught on straight away and held his hand out before his Headmaster who placed the key into his palm. Eddie quickly closed his fingers around the silver key, tightening it between his fist.

“With that in mind, this is now your room Eddie. I expect you to design it to your liking; this room is already slightly altered as someone used to live here before you. Although, you can’t alter the wall colours.”

“Oh, thank you Mr. Maguire!” Eddie grinned, pulling his pastel pink polo down by the collar to allow air to flow through.

“No problem, kid.” The Principal's facade faded slightly as something flashed through his eyes, but with a clear of his throat the facade was quickly hardened. “If you need me, I will be located in my office. Have a good day.”

Before Eddie managed to muster the words to even form a goodbye, the Principle of Derry Academy had already legged himself down the halls of the boys dorm. Eddie sighed shakily, pulling his suitcase along beside him in his other hand, stopping it right in front of his wooden door that had a chalkboard before him that was nailed deeply into his door along with a stick for him to write his name upon. The chalkboard itself looked as if it had been scrubbed at many times with faded skids of white crossing over each other's paths. Eddie’s fingers lifted away from the suitcase handle and grabbed at the thin stick of chalk and that was then he wrote his name onto the black surface. He simply wrote the name ‘Eddie’ with a smiley face right next to his name and a few squiggles here and there to let his personality shine through his name introduction to those who walked by.

Eddie placed the chalk back down on the small indent of a shelf before lifting the key to room 27 and unlocking his door to be revealed to what was before him, his new room.

The room was quite bland, as if it had been cleared- but some aspects shown that someone had been living here before his presence was. Such as how the bookshelf was half full with a variation of different colours and sizes with some more thick and some more slender. Even how the bed that was cramped into the corner of the room and how it had a plaid bedding with specifically three pillows and the fourth tucked at the end as if it were a foot rest for when the boy that lived in this room previously slept. 

Something about this place was off, though; Eddie couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

Eddie walsted his way inside with his brown suitcase rolling behind him, chipping at his heels with discomfort. A ragged sigh left his lips as his feet sunk into the rug below him which too must’ve been something that the person previously had in the room as an accessory to give a more homey feel.

His hand dropped from the suitcase as he placed it up against the pale wall and resting against a few cracks that had surfaced past the thin paint which showed its age just by that small detail of a crack. Eddie then walked forward, going over to the bed and bouncing down on it to test its comfiness. 

It wasn’t comfy.

Eddie could practically feel the springs through the thick blanket sticking up into his skin, causing his eyes to narrow as he quickly became unimpressed.

He was already starting to regret stepping his foot through the door of this school. He recalled how his Mother actually was hesitant to let him go after forcing him to go here herself; all because she was scared of him around other kids his age and staying under the roof of other girls. Eddie rolled his eyes at the thought.

Eddie was glad to be here though, he was finally away from home and from the tight grasp of his Mother, he finally felt independant just being away from her. The truth was that Eddie’s Mother was far too protective over her son; to the point where Eddie couldn’t leave or sleep without taking his medicine and wasn’t allowed to eat certain foods for some odd reason. Eddie hated it, but he knew that he needed to take the medicine.

As he thought about his medicine, he stood up and walked over to his upright suitcase and quickly flattened it against the dark oak wooden floorboards and pulled the zipper across to unravel its insides. Inside of his suitcase was mostly matching pyjama sets and a few weekend clothes that he could rewear; most of the things inside contained medicine, decor and some personal belongings to keep him occupied.

Eddie huffed, grabbing his medicine packet which was sealed tightly at the top and placing it on top of his chest of drawers- quickly organising them after taking them out of their clear plastic bag.

Each was labelled with when they should be took, for example, the bright orange packet had the words ‘9pm / 7am’ stuck to them from his Mother, alike to others but with different times. Each capsule holder was organised with what time they were to be took so that it was easier for himself somewhat.

With that done, he knelt next to his open suitcase once again to start packing away his personal belongings neatly just as he always would. His underwear kept tidy inside of his top drawer, his pyjama set collection and in the final and bottom drawer he kept his usual clothes and soon to keep his uniform for school days. Eddie sighed at himself, shutting over the final drawer and resting his frame against the wooden chest.

Did he really want to be here? He had friends back at home that he would barely see until Christmas at this rate and who was to say that he’d make friends at this school? Bad vibes were written all over it.

The only good thing that was coming out of all of this was that he didn’t have to have his Mother breathing down his neck at every possible moment. He felt free, but at the same time these walls still enclosed him. 

The air that surrounded him in his own dorm started to thin; becoming congealed. For some odd reason also, Eddie’s small brown thorns along his arms stood on ends along with the goosebumps that strengthened the strands upwards. 

Eddie didn’t feel as safe as he probably should within his own dorm.

Maybe it was something about the aura of this place- afterall, it was quite an old building from the 1800’s. Who knew what lurked these halls.

He hummed a soft tune, setting up his boom box up against the side of his chest of drawers and setting his stack of mixtapes next to it- each one labelled different to the other. Yes, he labelled his mixtapes based on certain moods and vibes that he was looking to listen to, some even labelled just as genres. It was out of habit, he couldn’t help it.

What was also left in the room was in fact a large grandfather clock that was snug into the corner of the room and ticked itself to and thro by each passing second. The clock currently struck itself at 20 past 7 in the evening. 

Tomorrow was going to be his first official day.

Eddie clung the metal key in his grip as the thoughts of his uniform and schedule ran over his brain, as he now realised that he should probably go and grab what was his from the office- which was probably downstairs where he came in through the dorms.

Bonus points: he also stayed on the first floor, so it wasn’t hard to find his way around.

With making sure his keys were intact with him, the small boy walked towards his dorm door and opened it up- walking out as it shut itself behind him. Other male’s of his age walked past his door and up and down the corridor and getting lost into the shadows of the night.

Eddie walked by his lone self, not making eye contact with the unusual eyes that scanned over him. They could probably already tell that he was the new boy, hopefully that wasn’t a bad thing. But from what Eddie had seen so far, he couldn’t tell; this place gave him a bad vibe. With each step that he took against the oak wood creaks beneath him, he felt like an outsider even more. Everyone here already seemed to have cliques, especially since groups of either those in two’s, three’s of four’s were just staring in confusion.

Please, don’t let me be an outcast again. He thought.

His feet strode to the staircase and eventually he allowed himself to tiptoe down each step; each one creaking which put Eddie on edge. Again, this was another reminder to how old this building truly was.

One person shoved themselves into Eddie’s side as they passed on the stairs, causing the hand railing to stick into Eddie’s waist- causing a subtle squeak to surpass Eddie’s parted lips. When Eddie glanced to the side, he saw a slightly older and much taller blonde with a scraggy mullet glare at him with a sickening smile of some sort- his three other friends trailing alongside him. One more on the chubbier side with a few pimples sporting to his face and dark brown thorns sticking up on his head, showing that his hair was gelled a bit too much. One of the other boys was rather thin and was the smallest out of the boys that were stood, he was more of a platinum blonde and his face was sort of scrunched up from his sour expression and oddly pale. Finally, a lanky tall boy with wavy brown strands of hair that almost danced at his shoulders, his smile wasn’t as teasing however- but more odd, it was hard for Eddie to specifically pinpoint an emotion to it. He did know that it was weird, however.  
“You’re next, girly boy! ” The mullet boy snickered, his friends too laughing.

Eddie felt as if they knew something that he didn’t know, yet. His chest tightened as his thoughts were swarmed over with his kneecaps trembling close together.

Great, I’ve only been here for 30 minutes and I’m already being teased. Eddie thought. But why? No one knows who I am yet.

The laughs echoed through the small space, before they trotted upwards and to the dorm sections. Eddie could feel himself able to breathe properly again, for once not needing his inhaler. 

With that situation quickly passing, Eddie stumbled his way down the stairs much more urgently so that he could get back to his room as soon as possible. The new scenery of the entrance to the dorm space and it’s bottom office came into view, a large chandelier hanging from the ceiling before Eddie and down onto the long old fashioned rug that was placed over the new change of floor, tiles. 

Eddie sighed, noticing another boy was waiting at the office and leant up against the wooden desk. Eddie didn’t want to start a conversation at all, especially after his first experience seconds earlier- but he needed his schedule and his uniform for tomorrow. The sooner he got back to his room the better, right? Right.

The desk grew closer as Eddie eventually found himself in front of it, with no one attending the desk as they probably should. A sigh drew from his lips yet again as Eddie pressed the bell in order to alert the receptionist that someone needed assistance.

“I-I’ve been here for ten m...minutes now, I wouldn’t get your hope up.”

Eddie’s eyes flickered beside him, seeing the boy that he saw when walking up to the desk. The boy was tall and looked around his age, his hair was cut neatly with some of his forehead exposed to the light, his bright blue eyes blinking as he too scanned the new Eddie. 

“Oh.” Eddie replied, feeling a sense of awkwardness rile up.

The boy blinked again, before speaking up. “Y..You new?”

“Huh?”

“New, as in new t-to D-Derry Academy?”

Eddie finally managed to pick up on the fact that this stutter wasn’t just a nervous habit- but an actual thing for the boy.  
“Oh… Yeah, I’m Eddie Kaspbrak.”

“I’m William D-Denbrough, but call me Bill.”

Eddie finally found a smile to twitch over his face as he finally had met someone who was nice despite his first experience. He nodded to the boy known as Bill and fidgeted with his sleeves.

“So… W-what’s your room number?” Bill questioned, his head slightly tilting.

“Oh, I uh- room 27 on the first floor, what about you?”

Eddie also too found out that he was terrible at continuing small talk, or any type of talk in general.

However, with Eddie’s response Bill almost stiffened up- with his prominent adam’s apple bobbing up and down in his throat, signalling something had changed in this innocent conversation that Eddie was unable to figure out.

“O-Oh, I um, I-I share o-one of those spuh-special rooms with another g-guy, it’s r..room 45 on the second f-floor.”

Eddie could also pick up on how his stutter had gradually gotten worse within the few seconds between their answers.

“Oh!” Eddie nodded, tapping his fingers against the polished wooden desk to create a soothing rhythm for himself. “I didn’t know you could share with others.”

“Y-yeah, we’ve been friends since kids a-and when we first joined we.. we saw that it was an o-option in the leaflet.”

Luckily for Eddie, he didn’t have to respond as the receptionist at the office was quickly back in her seat with smudged crimson lipstick and a pen between her claws. Eddie gulped but before he could speak up, the woman cut him off.

“Oh you must be the newbie.” She cooed, almost admiring him. “Edward Kaspbrak, right? Mhm honey, I’ve been expecting you- Mr.Maguire informed me about you.”

“It’s Eddie.” Eddie spoke up, trying to be polite as possible.

He hated being called anything but his nickname that he had grown used to over the years, Edward was just too much and Eddie was simple.

“Oh alright, Eddie.”  
Eddie flashed his eyes down to her name tag on her blouse, the name Elaine imprinted onto the shiney gold. Of course her blouse had popped buttons upon her white blouse and her glasses were slid down to the tip of her nose. Her eyebrows were drew overly arched, almost Marilyn Monroe like; her hair was curled into tight ginger ringlets. If she wasn’t wearing so much makeup, she’d probably look around mid-20’s, however right now she seemed late 40’s at the youngest.

Her green claws moved away from the pen and pulled out a cupboard near her feet, rummaging around for a few seconds before pulling out a sheet. She then handed it over the desk to Eddie, looking through her clumped lashes at him.

“I’ll go get your uniform, honey.”

“H-hey, can I-”

“Wait your turn, Billy.” Elaine spoke sickly, standing up and flattening her skirt down before strutting into the back office.

Bill sighed exaggeratedly, rolling his eyes at her usual behaviour and drummed his fingertips into the wooden surface; his eyes rolling back to Eddie.

“Well… She’s certainly a character.” Eddie muttered, glancing at Bill.

“Y-yeah, she’s banging the Principle.”

Eddie almost choked.

“W-what?”

Bill smirked at the smaller boys reaction, “Yeah, that’s the only r-ruh..reason why she still has her stupid job. She can barely s-stand in her own heels, n-nevermind sort out who’s timetable is which. I’m surprised his wife hasn’t found o-out already.”

“Wife?” Eddie expasterated, completely in awe of shock and disgust to already find out that an affair was taking place under the school premises.

“Yes, wife.” Bill hummed, standing a little closer to Eddie and shakily picking up the sheet that was his timetable, “Lucky, she g-got yours right.”

Eddie peeked at the sheet, wanting to see his classes and teachers. 

Bill’s eyes scanned over quickly, as if he was digging for information that he needed to confirm for himself- however, his eyes quickly settled on a class that he wasn’t sure to expect or not.  
“D-drama?” 

Eddie felt his face flush lightly to a dusked rose, “Yeah, I suppose I take drama.”

“Suppose?” Bill looked to Eddie.

“W-well.. I specifically asked for that to be my chosen subject.” 

“Ah.” Bill confirmed it with his very eyes, “Well h-here.”

When he handed the sheet back, Eddie could almost see something click in Bill’s brain. But again, Eddie found himself to struggle why he saw that. 

Bill then hummed between his stutters again, “W-well, I also saw you take History with a friend of mine, Mike. He’s one of m-my teammates.”

“Teammates?” Eddie asked, tilting his head.

“Yeah!” Bill smiled, his straight teeth poking through his lips. “W-we’re on the b-basketball team.”

“Oh!” Eddie nodded, trying to show as if he was impressed in order to seem kind to Bill. “So you’re popular?”

Bill practically laughed in his face, in mockery of himself.

“P-popular? With this stutter? I wish.” Bill’s smile only grew in surprise to Eddie, “I-I also write a lot, which is n-not cool at all.”

Eddie shrugged, “I think writing is pretty cool, it’s cooler than acting.”

“I write about c-creepy stuff, it makes m-me look weird.” Bill stuffed his hands in the pockets of his pants and swayed back and forth onto his heels, then his tiptoes.

“Well, you’re not weird to me Bill.” Eddie spoke gently, smiling softly.

Bill just looked at Eddie with soft eyes, his eyelashes dangling over his own iris as he scanned the boy with his own thoughts battling against one another. Eddie, confused, just stared back awkwardly.

“I’m g-going to make an offer, Eddie.” Bill paused, “And this is s-something I or we don’t do anymore.”

“Oh? Do go on.” Eddie urged, his curiosity growing by the seconds.  
Again, Bill was silent for a few seconds before clearing his throat.

“I’m willing to offer y-you a place in a club, there’s si- I mean f-five of us, including myself. We’re all weird or d-different and I think you’d fit in.”

Eddie felt his heart skip a beat at the thought of actually being offered to practically make friends; his first day of school had not even started yet and this was already a sign of luck.

“What kind of club is it?” Eddie beamed, trying not to show too much excitement.

Bill poked his tongue into his cheek as if to think for a moment before finally finalizing on an answer, “Well… I guess i-it used to be a uh- well… A club where y-you’d go if you needed to t-talk to someone for help or to let something off your c-chest, a escape.” He paused, his smile growing and infecting his face yet again. “Over time w-we all became friends, did things t-together and the club just became… ours. We call it the losers club now. Because w-we are all losers.”

Eddie enjoyed watching how Bill was obviously happy reminiscing on how he met his friends and how he found his place in school, the nostalgia clearly softening him.

“Are you calling me a loser?”

Bill’s smile quickly fell and his lips fell into an ‘o’ shape. 

“No! It’s just… I feel as if you’d fit in with us e-even though we might have differences, we call ourselves losers b-because its funny.”

“Oh, are you sure they wouldn’t mind? The rest of your members- friends, I mean.” Eddie fumbled around with his words, his eyes flicking down to his pumps.

“They’ll u-understand why you’ve joined, so they’ll be f-fine.” Bill grinned, cutting himself off at the sight of Elaine.

Her buttons were fixed this time, but her lipstick still remained trailed to her chin; a stack of clothing in her grip.

“I hope this is the right size, pudding.” She dumped the fabric against the wooden surface, “Your Mother called up earlier and told us all of your measurements and sizes- even telling us what fabric is the best for you!”

Eddie felt ashamed.

“So this seems to be the best match, now you hurry along. You have a big day ahead of you tomorrow sweetheart.”

Eddie nodded frantically not bothering to say goodbye, scooping up his new belongings. Just as he was about to walk past Bill, he was stopped when Bill placed a hand on his shoulder.

“If you d-d-do want to join, go to the room next to the d-detention room just beside the cafeteria during breakfast time.” Bill smiled, “W-we always provide breakfast anyway, so you won’t g-go the day with an empty stomach.”

Eddie nodded, making a mental note. “Got it. I’ll see you there?”

“We will.” Bill nodded, smiling as Eddie parted pathways with him.

-

That night Eddie laid in bed wide awake with his matching pyjamas, his eyes staring at the cracked ceiling above him with soft and strained eyes. His bambi like eyes were slid over with exhaustion, but for some reason he still couldn’t sleep like he wanted to. Something about this very room seemed off, almost eerie. 

His window was shut, along with the blinds and curtains. His door was shut and locked tight too. So why did it feel as if eyes were boring into him?

Everything about this place was just weird, more weird than expected. 

This school was supposed to be strict and ordinary, like any other boarding school. But it wasn’t. How is a married principle having an affair a receptionist normal? Also, the vibe of this school had gotten worse as the night ticked on. The building would constantly creak and the sound of the old grandfather clock ticking put Eddie on edge, despite his medicine calming him down as they usually would.

But what did that boy mean by ‘you’re next’? Eddie could only imagine the possibilities of what it could mean. Was he next on their list? Was he next to be shoved into a locker? Was he next to die?

Oh gosh, he didn’t want to die.

Eddie’s exaggerated thoughts quickly became calm whilst he turned onto his side, facing the chipped wall in order to cut off the feeling of being stared at.

With those thoughts pushed back, Eddie closed his eyes once again and brought up fluffy thoughts of rainbows and future dreams. Anything but thinking of how stressful and nerve wrecking tomorrow was going to be.


End file.
